Contents

Plot

The team's newest client is millionaire CEO Sandra Harding, and the job is to help her son Travis who is on trial for rape.

Meanwhile, when Olivia takes on Amanda Tanner as a client, Amanda's first request is a meeting with the president. And the White House has another scandal rocking them about the Amanda Tanner issue, an audio sex tape.

Cyrus and Olivia attempt to arrange a meeting between Fitz and Amanda.

Mellie tries to help Fitz with his insomnia by inviting Olivia to a dinner event that Cyrus made sure she wasn’t invited to.

Recap

Travis Harding, the son of a millionaire businesswoman Sandra Harding is charged with rape. He is an irresponsible, 27-year-old rich boy who rarely takes anything seriously. Sandra wants Olivia Pope to serve as backup to her son's defense lawyer. The first order of business is to try to get dirt on the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jane Powell from fellow Assistant U.S. Attorney David Rosen. Olivia gets nowhere with her friend, probably because David doesn't believe they are actually friends.

The woman Travis allegedly raped is Helen Fisher. The victim is a saint, but she's also heavily in debt. Olivia suggests to Sandra that they settle the civil case in order to get Helen to stop cooperating as a witness. The offer on the table is nine million dollars, but it is rejected. Helen asks Olivia how much money she would be willing to accept if someone raped her. Something Travis says has Harrison believing that he may have paid off another woman in the past. A 23-year-old waitress named Rachel received three $200,000 payments from Travis a few years ago. He paid off Rachel, who tried to put the incident behind her, but she couldn't and committed suicide. Her body was found by her best friend, Helen Fisher, who is now trying to make Travis pay for what he did with this new bogus rape charge. Travis later admits to his mother that he made a mistake, but says he handled it. His attorney annihilates Helen in the courtroom and Travis is going to go free.

Olivia makes a deal with Gideon Wallace the reporter. She'll give him some background on Amanda Tanner and a quote if he keeps her name out of the paper for the next 72 hours. Speaking of Amanda, she tells Olivia she has proof of her relationship with Fitz but is not ready to reveal what it is. In the meantime, Amanda wants a face-to-face meeting with Fitz. Olivia tells Cyrus that if this meeting takes place, their problem goes away for good. Cyrus initially agrees to the meeting. He reconsiders this strategy after anonymously receiving an audio recording featuring the passionate moans of the president and a White House aide. Cyrus now believes that Amanda is blackmailing them, but that means Olivia is doing so, too.

First Lady Mellie Grant cancels her husband's morning appointment because she wants him to sleep in. She wants to give him what he needs because he's had some serious insomnia lately. Mellie later invites Olivia to a dinner event at the White House where Billy Chambers playfully flirts with Olivia until the first lady steals him away.

Fitz then convinces Olivia to meet him in their secret spot after repeatedly saying he loves her, but Cyrus makes sure this rendezvous never takes place. Olivia is caught off guard when Cyrus accuses her of blackmail and has her abruptly escorted out of the White House! Cyrus then tells the president that Olivia is the one who canceled the Amanda Tanner meeting. Later, Mellie tells Fitz that she invited Olivia to the dinner because he needed to see her. Now that he has, she has no doubt he'll be able to sleep like a baby.

Outside the White House, Olivia pays Sandra Harding a late night visit to let her know that she needs have her son take responsibility for his actions. Travis isn't willing to do the right thing, so his mother does it for him. He's placed under arrest for Rachel's rape. The prosecutor in the Helen Fisher case is in hot water for not doing her homework, which leads to David telling Olivia that maybe they can be friends after all!

Amanda claims she got a call from Gideon, so Quinn offers to flirt with him to find out what he knows and Huck gives her a few tips on how to reel him in, but they don't work. Gideon knows what Quinn is up to but assures her that he's kept up his end of the deal so far and had never called Amanda. Olivia decides to throw Gideon a bone by setting him up with an exclusive interview with Sandra Harding.

Then it comes time for Amanda to come clean about everything. Remember how she said she had proof of her relationship with the president? Olivia is stunned when she discovers that the truth is Amanda Tanner is pregnant!